Music School Reus (Tarragona)

An island of silence in the city

We are in Reus, where in 2009 we presented our proposal to create an educational facility that combines an Art School and Music School in the city centre.

We were initially confronted by a disused building between party walls facing two parallel streets with a large inner courtyard that had formerly been a convent and later Art School of Tarragona Provincial Council.

It is a large, elongated site and although urban planning regulations allow the total demolition of the building, the intervention has been conditioned on preserving its protected classical façade and maintaining the build density of the existing structure.

The building has a basement, ground floor and three upper floors and our aim is to complete the project in a simple and yet functional manner.

Our proposal basically involves two bodies aligned with the two streets and linked by a nexus that breathes between two courtyards, one interior and the other exterior.

The commitment is to simplify the structure by means of large spans, as well as provide harmony between tradition and modernity through the metallic skin of the new volume with respect to the existing skin. It therefore appears as a large white, rotund box that leans out over the preserved façade, thereby signalling the new body that is born to offer itself and serve citizens.

The various courtyards and the atrium ensure maximum use of natural light and cross ventilation. The micro-perforated metal skin filters the sun’s rays and screens the views both from the inside out and vice versa to create an intimate space. The proportions and materials used seek to convey a sense of simplicity and certain purity. A feeling of austerity that may indeed recall the original convent.

The insulation, absorption and acoustic conditioning of the various rooms, alongside the great mass and density of the thermal insulation provided, guarantee both the acoustic quality required for teaching and optimum energy efficiency.

All this, in addition to its immaculate whiteness and great prevailing silence, draws us nearer to a sense of stillness that undoubtedly predisposes to listening and learning.